Cover for fruit-baskets



(No Model.) V v F. A. THGMAS'. COVER .PGRl FRUIT BASKETS.

No. 403.156,'. ,Patented May 14, 1839l I Zelf dqfar'neydll' FREDERICK A. THOMAS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COVER FOR FRUIT-BASKETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 403,156, dated May 14, 1889. Application filed March 25, 1889. Serial No. 304,668. (No model.)

To LZ whom it infayoonecru:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. THOMAS, a citizen of thc United States, residing' in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a knew and useful Improvement in Covers for Fruit-Baskets, of which the following is .t specifica-tion.

My invent-ion relates to the construction of the covers of fruit baskets and packages. common forni of cover for these baskets consists 'of slats made of thin stuit' which easily yieldand bend under the weight put upon them in t-hc piling', so that they ipipinge upon and bruise the fruit in the basket.-

This is not a surprising result. when it is known that baskets containing from two to three hundred pounds weight are frequently piled in a single pile. M v invention, which concerns this class of covers, is designed to obviate this evil; and-it consists of a cover having both an upper and a lower row of slats, ythe lower row being light enough to gently press the fruit and. hold it place, while the upper row is adapt-ed to sustain .the weight of the baskets piled upon it.

The 'nature of the invention is fully disclosed in the 'accoinpanying drawings, in which- Figure l is an elevation of a basket provided with my improved cover. Fig. 2 is a plan, and Fig. 23 is an edge view, of the cover detached and ready for application to the basket.

In the drawings, A represents an ordinary fruit-basket, having a handle, o., and a top band, b.

C (l represent the end pieces 6i. my iniproved cover. 'lhey are adapted to rest upon the top edge of'l the basket and conformto the ends thereof in shape, whether round, square, or other form. 'lo these e`nd pieces is secured a lower row of light slats, D, and an upper row of' preferably heavier slats, E. The latter are best secured by nails to the top of the end pieces, while the former may be secured in like manner to ledges d, formed upon the end pieces. The lower row of slats is preferably made of thin stuff, so that. they allow rounding up the. contents something afterthe manner shov/'n in Fig. 1, and so Y that they will press theffruit gently and hold it in place without bruising it. The upper slats are preferably heavier than the under ones, as `they are intended to sustain the weight of the baskets piled on top of them without yielding sufficiently to come in contact with the fruit orwith the lower slats, so that the fruit can be in no way injured by the piling.` Of course the stiffness of the slats can be diminished if the distance between the two rows is increased to prevent cont-act betweenthem.

At f are shown the wires for covers to the baskets. The two rows of slats may be disconnected by providing cach of them with separate end attaching the ssA pieces-such as would be formed by cutting the end pieces in two upon the plane of the dotted line g, shown' at Fig. S-in which construction they could be used either separately or together; but when used together they would in eifect be the equivalent of the construction set forth atlarge above, and which I deem the more desirable one.

By the use of my' invention a decided benefit, aside from the avoidance of bruising the fruit, is found in the fact that a pile of baskets provided'with my improved covers is perfectly ventilated, the cover of each basket giving the air freedom to circulate over the fruit contained in it, as well as under the fruit contained in the basket piled next above it. The prevention of bruising also enables the fruit-raiser to send riper fruit to market thanis customary.

l. 'lhe cover for fruit-packages, provided with a lower row of sla-ts to keep the fruit in l place, and an upper row of slats to take the weight in piling, substantially as set fort-h.

:3. The combination, with a fruit-package,

of an upper and alower row of slats covering t-he package, and end pieces to which the slats 

